METAL CHURCH were one of the radical metal bands in the mid-1980`s alongside the likes of MEGADETH, METALLICA, SLAYER and ANTHRAX, all creating a more thrashy style than most bands around at that time. Here we have the latest offering from METAL CHURCH entitled, 'This Present Wasteland'. I really do like the artwork for the album, a cross in a field with the sun beaming down, casting a shadow of a guitar onto the ground…fabulous.

The late great David Wayne was the original voice of METAL CHRUCH, he had great range and could hold onto notes for a long time, but alas as we all know he passed away some time back, a sad loss to us all for sure. Ronny Munroe has been the vocalist for the band for a while now and I must commend him for his ability to get very close to Wayne`s vocal style when singing the older material at live shows.

Munroe has his own distinctive way of delivering the vocals with his own studio recordings and his voice suits METAL CHURCH very well. The first thing I must say about this album is that the production quality is really good, and I mean really good. It`s clean, clear and punchy so you can hear everything easily which just adds to the enjoyment of listening to the album.

All of the songs are strong, but if pushed, I'd have to pick out tracks like 'War Never Won', a great ballady track, 'Mass Hysteria', a catchy tune with solid riffing and 'Congregation' which has outstanding vocal work from Ronny. Overall though, this is a very good album and it`s great to see METAL CHURCH still going strong after all these years and continuing to release some excellent quality metal.

Rating 4.3/5.0

Charlie Moodie

Release Date: 22nd September 2008